When Yongzheng was the crown prince, he was a powerful ruler of the country, and after becoming a king, he became the lord of reform. It can be said that one of the most holy emperors in the entire Qing Dynasty is the Yongzheng Emperor, and Kangxi is no better.
However, it is a pity that the Yongzheng Emperor reigned for only 13 years, but his son Qianlong, a loser, was emperor for 60 years, and he was also the Emperor Taishang for more than 3 years.
The decline of the Qing Dynasty also began here in Qianlong. So the question is, if Yongzheng and Qianlong are removed from a position, and Yongzheng reigns for 60 years and Qianlong reigns for 13 years, what will happen to the future of the Qing Dynasty?
First, Yongzheng's reform, if it lasts for 60 years, the results will be breathtaking.
There are many reformers in history, such as Shang Martin, Wang Anshi, Zhang Juzheng, and so on, but the one who really led the reform in history, except for Song Shenzong, who died halfway through the reform, was Yongzheng.
Yongzheng not only supported reform like Qin Xiaogong, but he himself was also a strategist of the reform faction, and many reform policies were already taken into account when he was crown prince.
Therefore, all the reforms in history should not be as thorough as the Yongzheng reforms. Why?
Because Yongzheng is the emperor, no one has the ability to hinder Yongzheng from implementing reforms. Unfortunately, in the end, we know that the reform was in the hands of Qianlong, and many policies were abolished.
There is only one reason, that is, Yongzheng died too early, he ascended the throne as emperor at the age of 45, died at the age of 57, and reigned for only 13 years. In these 13 years, Yongzheng not only established a sound tax system, but also saved a large amount of money for Qianlong, which was enough for Qianlong to squander for many years.
It is better to teach people to fish than to teach people to fish, Yongzheng not only gave Qianlong fish, but also taught Qianlong how to fish, which shows how big Yongzheng's role is. Let's see what systems Yongzheng has in place.
1. Spreading out into acres is really a good way to kill the rich and help the poor.
This initiative I think is the most humane. In the past, feudal dynasties collected taxes according to the head of the population, and if there were a few people in the family, they would collect taxes from several people.
The problem is that the poor have no land in their homes, and if the population is larger, the tax is more. The rich people's families have a lot of land, but their families are relatively small, and the taxes they collect are naturally relatively small.
That is to say, Ding Tax can force the poor to die, but it cannot hurt the rich. Obviously, this is very unreasonable, so Yongzheng decided to collect taxes according to the land he owned.
Land property is real estate, how much land property you have in your name, how much tax you have to pay, and poor people who do not have land property do not have to pay taxes. Large households with a particularly large amount of land are required to pay a large amount of taxes.
This is the so-called killing of the rich to help the poor, and when the imperial court has money, it will not take money out of the pockets of the poor, so it is said that in disguise, the poor are reduced. No matter how many mouths you have, as long as you can afford to raise them and your family does not have land, you do not have to pay ding tax.
2. The gentry are one and the same as the poor and receive grain.
I think this initiative is the boldest and the strongest opposition. In the past, feudal rulers, in order to win the hearts of the world's disciples, said that as long as they were admitted to the meritorious name, they did not need to serve as servitude, nor did they need to pay taxes and pay grain.
After the Qing Dynasty came in from outside the Guanwai, under the guidance of a group of Han ministers, it immediately followed this move. As a result, they quickly won the approval of a large number of Han scholars, so they could quickly stabilize the country.
In the Yongzheng period, Yongzheng felt that this was also too unfair, and those who were admitted to the meritorious name and became officials were all rich people. Three years of Qing Prefect, 100,000 snowflake silver. Who will pay the taxes if they don't pay the taxes?
Getting that from the poor is not only laborious, but also pitiful. Getting money from these rich gentry is fast, and it is not painful for them.
Even so, Yongzheng was insulted by the readers of the world, because these gentry themselves were readers, and their teachers and students were also readers, which was a rather large and terrible team.
Because the public opinion orientation at that time all relied on the pen of these readers. If you offend them, your reputation will not be desired! Therefore, Yongzheng's reputation is actually particularly poor, and there are many funny stories about him. However, this system has played a very good role in rectifying the administration of officials and has increased the revenue of the state treasury.
3. Envy the number of credit, raise a clean silver system.
This is the cheese that directly moves the grass-roots officials, and the fire consumption during the Zhang Juzheng period. When Zhang Juzheng reformed, he implemented a whip law, and no matter what the local officials received from the common people as a tax, what they handed over to the imperial court must be whole ingots of silver.
So the question is, if you put in the broken silver, willn't it be lost by melting it into whole ingots of silver? Is it difficult for these grassroots officials in Zhixian County to make up for this loss? Of course, it is impossible, since the ancient government has not been so kind.
They will let the people make up for these losses in advance, which is the fire consumption. As for the amount of fire consumption, different counties and districts are different, and each has its own regulations. Over time, this income has basically become the private income of grass-roots officials.
In the Qing Dynasty, this system was still used, which was an unwritten rule. But some officials are more greedy, and they will increase the fire consumption to fifty percent, that is, one or two silver must be charged half of the two silver fire consumption, which is too terrible, and must be managed uniformly.
Therefore, Yongzheng simply asked the local officials to hand over all the fire consumption to the imperial court, and then according to the different local political achievements, they were issued in the form of raising incorruptible silver. Of course, the imperial court had to detain some of it.
In this way, the magistrates did not have the enthusiasm to collect fire and consumption, because the silver for raising honesty was not given, and how much was given, all depending on the words of the imperial court, who was so active in harming the common people? In this way, it not only increased the revenue of the national treasury, but also allowed the common people to reduce their burdens and rectify the officials by the way.
Second, give Yongzheng so long, the Qing Dynasty should be able to continue for another half a century.
These measures of Yongzheng were really effective, and these measures made the income of the imperial court continue to flow when Qianlong became emperor, and Qianlong was a rich second generation who was a righteous child.
However, in order to gain a good reputation, he soon abolished the policy of the gentry receiving food as one, just to win the favor of the readers. As a result, his reputation was indeed much better than Yongzheng's.
But this guy is a loser, and in 60 years, he has lost all the family foundations of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, if he only had 13 years, it was estimated that he could extend the life expectancy of the Qing Dynasty for more than twenty years.
Coupled with these appropriate measures of Yongzheng, they can be implemented for 60 years, and they can also extend the life expectancy of the Qing Dynasty for more than twenty years, so that the Qing Dynasty can continue for half a century.
Summary: The Qing Dynasty's pace of self-imposed progress is critical.
Yongzheng reigned for a long time, at most only to extend the life of the Qing Dynasty, but it could not solve the fundamental problem. Because the success of the reform will increase the national strength of the Qing Dynasty, but it cannot change the overall backwardness of the Qing Dynasty.
Especially in terms of backwardness in technology, this is the biggest hard wound. Everyone uses guns and cannons, and you are still using cold weapons, of course, you can't get your opponents. It's only a matter of time before it dies.